By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com
May 3, 2007
Theres a new theory that might explain why thousands of dogs and cats that have eaten pet food -- made with contaminated ingredients imported from China -- have become sick or died.
Tests conducted at the University of Guelphs Animal Health Laboratory in Ontario revealed that two chemicals found in the tainted pet foods -- melamine and cyanuric acid -- can react to form crystals that block kidney function.
"This is a piece of the puzzle, a significant finding," John Melichercik, director of analytical services for Guelph's laboratory services, told The Toronto Star. "We have found these crystals in cats that have suffered renal failure."
Analysis of those crystals revealed their chemical make-up is approximately 70 percent cyanuric acid and 30 percent melamine. The crystals are also insoluble or cant be dissolved in liquid.
Researchers were also able to replicate these crystals when they mixed melamine and cyanuric acid in samples of cat urine.
This is still just a theory, but its a pretty compelling one, Tom McPheron, spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association (AMVA), told ConsumerAffairs.com. His organization participated in discussions with scientists about these findings. These crystals are very unique. Theyre something that scientist havent seen before, except perhaps once in a cat from Asia.
Theyre now talking about trying to replicate the crystals in the urine of dogs. The original tests were done on the urine of cats.
McPherson said scientists suspect two other melamine-related substances -- ammelide and ammeline -- may also play a role in the animals illnesses. Those chemicals are now under investigation.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed the presence of melamine and cyanuric acid in the imported wheat gluten and rice protein used to make the contaminated pet foods.
Melamine is a chemical used to make plastic. Cyanuric acid is used to chlorinate pools.
Neither is approved for use in pet foods.
The presences of these chemicals triggered one of the largest pet food recalls in history 18 companies have recalled more than 5,300 pet food products in the past six weeks.
Case Solved?
Does this latest study finally solve the mystery surrounding the deaths and illnesses of pets who eaten the tainted food?
Not at all, says Daniel Rice, director of the New York State Food Laboratory.
I dont think weve found the solution, Rice told ConsumerAffairs.com today. No one has shown a cause and effect. Weve found some things in the urine; weve found some things in the feed. Right now, its just a hypothesis.
I think people are fairly open-minded about the possibility that there might be something else at play.
In March, Rices New York Laboratory and Cornell Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine identified another toxin in samples of the recalled pet food: aminopterin.
At the time, scientists thought this toxin might be the culprit behind the kidney failure and deaths in pets that ate the recalled foods.
Aminopterin is used as rat poison in some countries and as a cancer drug in the United States.
The FDA and other laboratories, however, downplayed that finding and focused their attention on melamine.
We still stand by our results, Rice says of the discovery of aminopterin in the recalled food. And were still testing for that and other toxins. Its possible that what we found was relatively rare...one early piece of the puzzle.
He adds: We found aminopterin in two pet food samples, but we havent found it in any other samples.
Focusing the investigation on melamine makes scientific sense, Rice says.
Its the one common feature. It appears that melamine and other-related compounds have been there (in the recalled products) and thats why scientists are focusing on that angle. Cyanuric acid has been found in the food; melamine has been found in the food.
Rice predicts scientists will continue to find melamine in other foods.
Im sure there will be other instances of finding melamine where it shouldnt be. Weve definitely identified a problem.
Will scientists ever solve this current pet food mystery, though?
I hope that well get an answer, Rice says. But I dont see anything on the imminent horizon.
There are a lot of excellent people all over the country who are working on the problem and theyre very interested and passionate about figuring it out. People arent going to just let this drop at least not in the scientific community. Were not considering it a dead issue.
3 Million Chickens
In related news, the FDA estimates that three million chickens and 500 hogs consumed feed made from tainted pet food scraps.
And a small percentage of those animals entered the human food chain.
The FDA, however, said the risk of illness to humans from eating these animals is minimal.
Why?
Federal authorities say the percentage of melamine in the feed is extremely low and only a small percentage of tainted pet food was used in poultry and hog feed.
To protect humans from these increasing problems with contaminated food, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced legislation on Tuesday to revise and upgrade the nation's food safety system.
The FDA -- one of the federal agencies charged with safeguarding the U.S. food supply -- has come under fire in the wake of nationwide recalls and quarantines of tainted pork, spinach, peanut butter, and pet food.
"The product recalls that we have seen in the past few weeks - first with pet food and then with food intended for human consumption - have shown us that food-borne illness is a dangerous and real threat in this country," Durbin said in a statement issued by his office.
"There are gaps in the inspection, monitoring, notification and enforcement elements of our food system and we must act now to address them. We simply cannot afford to let consumers continue to be the guinea pigs in our food safety system."
Food Safety Agencies Asleep
Representative DeLauro added: "After the countless recalls, alerts, and advisories from the past year, along with the latest Centers for Disease Control (CDC) numbers showing increases in various food-borne illnesses, the evidence is clear our food safety system is collapsing and one of the main agencies charged with protecting it, is asleep.
"This needs to change immediately - it is time to transform the FDA from the toothless agency it has become to one that takes the proactive steps necessary to protect our food supply and the public health."
The CDC estimates as many as 76 million people suffer from food poisoning each year, Durbin and DeLauro said. Of that number, approximately 325,000 will be hospitalized and more than 5,000 will die.
Under Durbin and DeLauros proposed legislation, the FDA would have authority to:
• Issue mandatory recalls of contaminated or dangerous food. The FDA currently does not have this power. It must rely on the industry to voluntarily pull products from store shelves;
• Establish an early warning and notification system for human food and pet food products. The legislation directs the FDA to work with professional organizations, veterinarians, and others to share information about pet food contamination. In cases of both pet and human food contamination, the FDA would be required to keep up-to-date recall lists on its Web site;
• Establish uniform federal standards and better labeling of pet food. The practices that govern the pet food industry today are implemented on a voluntary basis by manufacturers and state departments of agriculture. There is no requirement for states to adopt these practices and they don't have the force of federal guidelines. Inspections are not coordinated state-to-state and some states have different standards than others;
• Improve the FDA's ability to regulate imported food products. The sources of the recent human and pet food contamination were wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate from China. Neither shipment was inspected by FDA; in fact, the FDA inspects less than 1.5% of imports. The FDA does not currently certify that trading partners have food safety standards equivalent to those of the United States. Under the bill, foreign food safety systems and plants would be inspected by the FDA prior to certification and the United States could revoke certifications and deny importation of food that presented a public health risk;
• Require companies to maintain records and make them accessible to the FDA. This would prevent delays that could keep contaminations from being traced as quickly as possible. In the recent peanut butter recall, an FDA report showed that inspectors were denied documents when they requested them.
More about the Pet Food Recall ...
